


like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert

by the_one_that_fell



Series: OMGCP Rare Pair Hell [8]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst, Jealousy, M/M, Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 08:59:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11399334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_one_that_fell/pseuds/the_one_that_fell
Summary: Holster sighed, like the answer was obvious. “How does someone like that date a rude, surly bastard like Jack? I don’t get it. Bits should be dating someone happy and nice and fuckin’ culinary, like a cake-baking Chowder or something. Like, mad props for snagging a rich-ass professional athlete, but why Jack?""Are you jealous?” Ransom asked before he could help it.





	like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr [here](http://alphacrone.tumblr.com/post/162552388077/this-was-supposed-to-be-a-funny-drabble-and)

“I don’t get it,” Holster said, sloshing his beer around. Ransom sighed, but reasoned with himself that the attic floor had seen a lot worse. 

“Are we still talking about Jack and Bits?” Ransom asked, standing to grab another Natty from the 24-pack. Lukewarm beer was not the BEST, but the downstairs fridge was full of Lardo’s shit and the kitchen fridge was…off limits as long as they kept wanting pie. (And they sure as fuck did.)

  
“Yeah,” Holster said, taking another gulp and not even pretending to look at his International Finance notes. “I just don’t get it.” 

Ransom managed to absorb a total of three words from his own reading before finding he was too distracted by Holster. “What don’t you get?” He asked. "Jack being g- bi or whatever? It’s a little surprising, yeah, but I mean…all that fanfiction was built on something, y'know?“ 

Holster shook his head, leaning back in his desk chair and contemplating the ceiling. "Nah, man, I mean, I don’t get why Bits would date Jack. Bitty’s, like, the nicest person we know – like, totally a three-way tie between him, Chow, and Mother Teresa-" 

 "We know Mother Teresa?” Ransom chirped. Holster chucked a pencil at him, glaring.

“Let me finish, asshat,” he said, glaring. “You know how I bring you food when you go Coral Reef?" 

Ransom frowned a little; they never talked about Coral Reef Mode, or everything Holster did for him during that time. "Yeah?" 

"Well, you know that it’s never leftovers, right? The food I bring you? Bits makes it special for you. I didn’t even have to ask, he just saw me trying to pull together something for you once last year and now…" 

"Oh.” Ransom felt something small and warm bloom in his gut. “He doesn’t have to do that." 

"Exactly,” Holster said with a shrug. “But he’s Bits, so he’s gonna." 

"Oh,” Ransom repeated, more quietly. Then, he asked, “What’s this got to do with Jack?”

Holster sighed, like the answer was obvious. “How does someone like that date a rude, surly bastard like Jack? I don’t get it. Bits should be dating someone happy and nice and fuckin’ culinary, like a cake-baking Chowder or something. Like, mad props for snagging a rich-ass professional athlete, but why Jack?"  

"Are you jealous?” Ransom asked before he could help it. 

Holster looked a little stunned. “I don’t even know who I’m supposed to be jealous of,” Holster said slowly, eyes narrowing. “Why would I be-?" 

"Jack’s playing pro,” Ransom said. “Which was, like, your dream growing up. And now he’s dating, quote unquote, ‘the nicest person we know.’ Are you jealous?" 

"No,” Holster said too quickly. “Look, once upon a time, yeah, I would’ve been fucking pissed that he got a second chance just because he’s Bad Bob’s kid and I didn’t even get a first, but now I’ve lived in the real world for four years and I’m glad to have a degree, to graduate and get a normal job with normal hours. Going pro is totally overrated." 

Ransom didn’t believe that for a second, but he was too distracted by the fact that Holster hadn’t denied the second part of Ransom’s claim. "And Bitty…?"  

"Like I said,” Holster sighed, finishing off his beer and tossing the can into their stickier-than-normal recycling can. “Bits deserves someone happy and nice.”

“Not Jack,” Ransom prompted. 

“Not me, either,” Holster murmured, almost too low for Ransom to hear. 

“Oh.” Ransom thought he’d known everything about Holster. They had a shared mind, sometimes, always seemed to know what the other was thinking. He’d missed _this_ though. And he had no idea how. “How long…?" 

Holster shrugged. "I knew it wasn’t gonna happen, though. I never got my hopes up. I really thought he’d hit it off with that rugby kid- Charlie. Dude’s fucking nice as hell, and, like, works at an animal shelter on the weekends. It should be someone like him." 

"But instead it’s Jack,” Ransom said softly. 

“Yeah,” Holster spat. “Instead it’s fucking Zimmermann." 

"I’m sorry,” Ransom said, for lack of anything better. 

Holster laughed and shook his head. “What for? You didn’t have anything to do with it." 

"I could have, though,” Ransom said. “I could have wingmanned the hell out of you." 

Holster smiled at him sadly. "It wouldn’t have worked out. But thanks." 

Ransom shut his notebook. There was no way he’d be able to concentrate after that bombshell. "Dude, the fuck, have you been pining in secret all this time? That sucks." 

Holster shrugged. "Not the first time I’ve fallen for someone I can’t have.” The look he gave Ransom was significant, but Ransom had no idea how to interpret it. Instead, he stood  and walked over to sit on Holster’s bunk, arms outstretched. Holster was hugging him in seconds, catapulting them both back against his pillow. Normally they only did this when Ransom was stressed, so it was foreign territory when Holster rested his head against Ransom’s chest and squeezed his abdomen tightly. He’d never been the one in the position of comforting Holster; it would have been wonderful if it hadn’t been so sad. 

“You deserve someone like Bits,” Ransom said after a moment. “Someone kind and happy. You aren’t the massive asshole you think you are." 

"I am,” Holster said softly. “But thanks.”

Ransom thought to March, how happy he was liking someone and having her like him back. Even if their relationship fizzled after graduation, there was a certain sort of joy that came from dating he’d never personally experienced elsewhere. Holster had not dated anyone at Samwell for more than a month. He hadn’t dated anyone at all in a year or so. Ransom desperately wished this intimate kind of happiness for his best friend, even if just as a temporary distraction. “Let’s go to the volleyball party tomorrow,” he said. “Let me wingman you." 

Holster snorted. "Nah, but thanks. Not really in the mood for sex." 

That nearly broke Ransom’s brain. The Holster he knew and loved was the horniest jackass in the state of Massachusetts. The dude would fuck anyone who offered or consented. Him not wanting to hook up with someone was like Ransom deciding he wasn’t in the mood to breathe. "Oh,” was all he could say. “Okay.”

“Let’s go see if there’s any pie,” Holster said, sitting up. “The silver lining of all of this is that _somehow_  the pies have gotten even better since Bits started getting laid on the reg.”   


Normally, Ransom might’ve made a point to say that it also probably had something to do with how happy Jack made Bitty. Even now, he was defensive of their relationship. But he also wasn’t stupid; Ransom knew a deflection when he saw one. “El-oh-el, man,” he said, a little too forced. “Let’s go get you some sex pie.” 

Holster snorted and they thundered down the stairs together, both a little over-exuberant in their attempts to normalize the evening. But now Ransom could see the way Holster’s eyes lingered a little too long on Bitty as they entered the kitchen, the way he tensed for a second when Bitty started talking about Jack. 

“What pie you got cookin’?” Holster asked as they parked themselves at the kitchen table. “Smells ‘swawesome.”   


“Blueberry crumble,” Bitty said with a wink. “ _Someone’s_  favorite.”   


And now that his eyes had been opened, Ransom could see the sheepish, pleased look on Holster’s face that was so much more than the simple pleasure of getting your favorite pie. 

“Thanks, Bits,” Holster said gently. Ransom’s heart ached for his best friend. 

Maybe Jack and Bitty would break up. Or maybe Holster would get over Bits once he graduated and moved out of the Haus. Or maybe Ransom could find him a ‘swawesome dude or lady as bright as Bitty, as kind. 

Maybe, one day, Holster could accept that he deserved to be loved. But for today, all Ransom could do was sit in the Haus kitchen, eating pie and and watching his friend try not to get his heart broken. 

**Author's Note:**

> [alphacrone](http://alphacrone.tumblr.com/) on tumblr. 
> 
> If you think my writing's swell, please check out my original project, [The Discourt Knife.](http://thediscourtknife.tumblr.com/)Chapter 5 was posted just the other day, and there's lot of witty banter and Fighting Evil in this update. Check it out!


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